BirdLife Cyprus would like to thank all those that have signed and supported our electronic petition against illegal bird trapping in Cyprus. We value your support which empowers our fight against this ecological disaster.

On the 1st February 2012 we presented the petition signatures to the Minister of Interior, Mr Neoklis Sylikiotis. We believe that our united voice will be even more strongly heard now and will exert greater pressure towards the competent authorities to take real action on this issue.

BirdLife Cyprus will continue its campaigning against illegal bird trapping in Cyprus until this practice finally stops and we thank you for contributing to our goal. Please read below the press release for the submittion of the petition signatures to the minister, which you can also find on our website (http://www.birdlifecyprus.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=579%3Acyprus-interior-minister-presented-with-16677-signatures-from-150-countries-calling-for-more-action-against-illegal-bird-trapping-01-02-2012&catid=101%3Apress-releases&Itemid=111&lang=en).

BirdLife Cyprus1 representatives today presented Minister of Interior, Neoklis Sylikiotis, with a 257-page document containing over 16,500 signatures from 150 countries, calling for more action against illegal bird trapping. The electronic petition, entitled ‘Call for action against illegal bird trapping in Cyprus’2, was set up by BirdLife Cyprus in September 2011 to coincide with the main autumn trapping season. The petition is addressed to the relevant Ministers (Minister of Interior, Mr. Neoklis Sylikiotis and Minister of Justice and Public Order, Mr. Loucas Louca) and calls for the adoption of a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to trapping, as promised at the Bern Convention conference (July 2011)3.

The electronic petition was a great success in raising public awareness about this illegal activity, which has been on the rise in the last few years, as shown by BirdLife Cyprus monitoring programme. Hundreds of thousands of birds are killed in mist nets and on limesticks each year to end up as expensive ambelopoulia delicacies; the indiscriminate nature of the trapping means many rare and threatened species are caught. While there was a drop in mist net use in the Republic in autumn 2011, limestick use significantly increased and action against restaurants serving ambelopoulia was limited.

The petition was widely advertised through the media and BirdLife International partners in countries across the world. Most signatures came from the United Kingdom, with over 5,000 , followed by France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland, with over 1,000 signatures from each country. The electronic petition expanded far beyond European borders, getting signatures from countries such as the USA (700) and Australia (130). As for Cyprus, more than 600 people signed the petition.

“The number of signatures gathered by our petition shows how concerned the general public is about bird trapping in Cyprus”, commented Clairie Papazoglou, Executive Director of BirdLife Cyprus. “We hope that the call for zero tolerance from all these people from across the world will be heard and the competent authorities will take real action against the killing”, continued Papazoglou.

TENS OF THOUSANDS of migrant birds are being illegally slaughtered in Cyprus annually to feed an appetite for illegal “ambelopoulia” delicacies. Trappers using limesticks and mist nets are making huge profits while threatening Europe’s natural heritage. You can help generate the political will to end this indiscriminate killing by signing BirdLife Cyprus’s petition to relevant Ministers.

Bird trapping in Cyprus has been taking place for many years. It began as a way of supplementing what was once a meager peasant diet. This is no longer the case. Trapping in Cyprus has become a large-scale, high-tech, lucrative business run by criminals. Trapped birds are usually supplied to restaurants that are illegally serving them - a dozen of trapped birds could be sold up to 80 euros. The competent authorities estimate this illegal business to be of the order of 15 million euros per year.

Bird trapping is illegal under Cyprus and European legislation. Trappers in Cyprus use mist nets and limesticks which are non selective methods of capture. 122 bird species have been recorded trapped on nets and limesticks, of which 58 bird species are listed as threatened by BirdLife International and/or the EU Birds Directive.

Moreover it is taking place on a large scale. BirdLife Cyprus (http://www.birdlifecyprus.org/) has been running a systematic monitoring programme on trapping in Cyprus since 2002 and estimates that hundreds of thousands of birds are killed every year. The last 4 years there has been a dramatic increase in trapping in Cyprus and urgent measures are needed to stop this slaughter.

The large scale and non selective nature of illegal trapping in Cyprus constitutes an ecological disaster. A recent film made by BirdLife Cyprus gives an overview of the trapping issue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kk4B4YJWiQ) and one other film from another organization shows how far the trappers are willing to go to protect their illegal business (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KvpoLNEeDg).

A recent “European Conference on Illegal Killing of Birds” that took place in Larnaca (Cyprus) in July 2011 (http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/nature/bern/News/Cyprus/Cyprus_en.asp) concluded on a clear “zero tolerance” message and BirdLife Cyprus wants to see words transformed into actions. For this reason we are undertaking this petition to put pressure for greater political will to stop illegal bird trapping in Cyprus.

As you know, illegal bird trapping in Cyprus with mist nets and limesticks is still widespread and has been increasing dramatically in the last few years. BirdLife Cyprus’ monitoring data on trapping suggest hundreds of thousands of birds have been killed during this autumn. A clear and welcome “zero tolerance” message came out of the “European Conference on Illegal Killing of Birds”, held in Larnaca last July (2011). We, the undersigned, now call for the political will that was evident at the conference to be transformed into action on the ground to stop the slaughter of birds in Cyprus.

Illegal bird killing is no longer a traditional activity. Limesticks and mist nets are non selective trapping methods, killing more than 100 bird species, many of which are listed as threatened at a European and/or international level. Nowadays bird trapping takes place at an unprecedented scale, killing hundreds of thousands of birds for profit, and it is controlled by a network of ruthless criminals.

This ecological disaster must be stopped. I ask that real enforcement of the legislation is applied at all levels, from the trapping sites to the restaurateurs serving “ambelopoulia” and that deterrent court fines are imposed to convicted trappers. We expect that true results are achieved by 2012, the target year for eliminating the problem as stated by the Minister of Interior in his opening speech at the Larnaca conference.

I hope that you will do whatever is possible within your powers to eliminate illegal bird trapping in Cyprus.

The Call for action against illegal bird trapping in Cyprus petition to Minister of Justice Mr Loucas Louca and Minister of Interior Mr Neoklis Sylikiotis was written by BirdLife Cyprus and is in the category Environment at GoPetition. Contact author here.